Biography

Volker Lechtenbrink was born in 1944 in Cranz/Baltic Prussia. At the age of eight he performed for the NDR-Kinderfunk (childrens radio network), and at the age of ten he first performed on stage: The Christmas Carol af the Deutsches Schauspielhaus. In 1959, acting Klaus Hager in Bernhard Wicki’s anti-war movie DIE BRÜCKE (The Bridge) made him well-known to a broader audience in Europe.

Four years later Volker Lechtenbrink made his „real“ debut on stage at the Landestheater Hannover in Shakespeare´s MERCHANT OF VENICE and joined the ensemble. Later he contracted at the Bühnen der Stadt Köln and at the Bayerischen Staatsschauspiel München. From 1969 to 1983 he was permanently engaged at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, were he also worked as a stage director. He toured throughout Germany in 2001 with the stage act SKYLIGHT by David Hare. With Jörg Pleva he performed A STRANGE COUPLE at the Ernst-Deutsch-Theater. Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon had once made this play immortal. He toured again from 2002 to 2004 with SOLEIL POUR DEUX by Pierre Sauvil. Volker performs in Düsseldorf, Berlin and Hamburg.

In 1976 Volker presented his well received first LP DER MACHER (Le Faiseur). With a variety of own creations he included songs by the American singer and actor Kris Kristofferson, whose German film dubbing voice he impersonates. Ensuing records and concert tours definitely established him as member of the greater German popular music scene. Amongst others, Peter Maffays interpreted songs by Volker Lechtenbrink on his LP STEPPENWOLF. A collection of 7 CDs DER GANZE LECHTENBRINK, presenting his complete musical works, was released in 2001.

In 1979 the Saarländischer Rundfunk featured Volker’s own TV show: LIVE: VOLKER LECHTENBRINK.

His long and successful TV career started in 1962. He has played leading roles in features and series too numerous to mention here.

From 1995 to 1997 Volker Lechtenbrink was director of the Bad Hersfelder Festspiele - where he played KING LEAR in 2012 and directed the Three MUSKETEERS in 2013 - and from 2003 to 2006 director of the Hamburger Ernst Deutsch Theater, where he continues to perform (DER HAMBURGER FLOH IM OHR, DR. MED. HIOB PRAETORIUS, HEUTE WEDER HAMLET) and direct (AMY´S VIEW, THE WINSLOW CASE, THE CONCEITED PATIENT).

Volker Lechtenbrink has dubbed the voices of e.g. Kris Kristofferson and Burt Reynolds, and he appeared in radio plays. In 2007 he was awarded with the German Audio Book Award for his rendition of DAS FEUERSCHIFF, and he received the German Record Critics Prize in 2008.

Lechtenbrink's personification of Richard Nixon in FROST/NIXON at the Hamburger Kammerspiele earned him the Hamburg Drama Award in 2010.
His memories GIB DIE DINGE DER JUGEND MIT GRAZIE AUF was published in 2010.